Blog

By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

For many years, social scientists have used Reasoned Action Theory (RAT) to evaluate a person's intention to take an action. Daniel O’Keefe, a preeminent scholar in the field, says of RAT, “It is unquestionably the most influential general framework for understanding the determinants of voluntary action.”

A simplistic overview of the theory lays out four drivers that determine an intention leading to a behavior. The first is Attitude with the components of belief (it is a good thing) and evaluation (there is motivation to act). The second is Injunction which is the influence of others (colleagues, friends, or professors). Next is Determinantswhich is…

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After facing several years of unprecedented global events, associations have begun to emerge from the heavy toll of the pandemic.  Associations are back to focusing on membership growth. We are now gathering  responses for the  2023 edition of the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. However, let’s look back at some of the top findings from our 2022 results to see the tactics that other associations used to achieve their recruitment goals. Here’s what we found:

1. Adding New Members is a Top Driver of Total Membership Growth

In 2022, we found that 43% of all associations reported new member growth (up from 29% in 2021). Associations reporting increases in their one-year and five-year…

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By Tony Rossell, Senior Vice President

In my book, Membership Recruitment, I share an eye-opening experience with a client. For several years, this association had been doing a sizeable annual mailing to recruit new members. The mailing went to a portfolio of outside lists totaling over 100,000 records. Results were below expectations, so they asked for assistance to improve returns.

The obvious place to start may have been looking at the creative or the offer for the mailing. Instead, we ran an analysis matching the new members that had come in compared to the lists mailed. That is where the eye-opening experience happened. Fully one-third of the lists used year after year produced zero…

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If you’re wondering how to increase your member retention, keep reading. In this blog, you’ll learn how to retain members through membership retention strategies and membership renewal best practices. When renewal and retention are done well, it can be a contribrutor to increasing your overall membership.

To start, let’s review the top reasons members don’t renew according to our latest benchmarking data:

1. Lack of engagement
2. Could not justify membership costs
3. Left the field, industry, or profession
4. Budget cuts/economic hardship

Not sure why your members don’t renew? Ask.

In addition to understanding the top reasons members don’t renew across the board, seek to uncover the particular hindrances…

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Mailing lists are an effective way to communicate with existing customers, acquire new ones, and convert both. But in order to acquire the best mailing lists for your association, you need to know a few things.

According to Ed Mayer, an authority on direct mail marketing, the success of a marketing campaign depends on three things: your audience, offer, and presentation. If you don’t know who your target audience is, you can’t present them with a compelling offer.

You can search for the best mailing list companies on Google, but if you don’t know who you’re talking to, what you’re saying, and how to say it, your campaign won’t succeed. In this blog, we explore the details of marketing mailing…

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